NU members demand new party

NU members demand new party

SURABAYA: The East Java chapter of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) will
propose that the country's largest Muslim organization establish
a new political party to accommodate the interests of its
members.

Chapter chairman Ali Maschan Moesa said on Monday that the
demand emerged during a meeting of 45 NU branches across the
province late last month, which also discussed the agenda they
would raise at the NU congress in Surakarta at the end of
November.

Ali said the NU members expressed disappointment with the
National Awakening Party (PKB), which was founded by NU clerics
in 1998, for failing to heed the aspirations of the grass roots
during the presidential election. The PKB backed Wiranto in the
first round of the election and Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in the
runoff.

Aside from the PKB, the United Development Party (PPP) and the
Nahdlatul Ummah Indonesian Party (PNUI) are political parties
with House of Representative seats that claim to represent the
NU. -- JP